#ProsperityCircle: How Intuit Circles is helping Fyle become a part of a powerful global app ecosystem and access 3.9 million customers

With a long history of working with small businesses and startups globally, Intuit has observed that 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first 5 years because of poor financial management. Lack of financial literacy results in entrepreneurs struggling to manage their cash flow and also get access to capital. If only they had an ally to turn to in time of need and the right connections, it would make all the difference. One such connection is that of Intuit and Fyle, a startup whose expense management software leverages Intuit’s QuickBooks Online to improve customer engagement on their platform.

A one-click expense management service

Fyle was started in 2016 by Yashwanth Madhusudan and Sivaramakrishnan Narayanan to address the frustration faced by individuals in the expense management process. Companies all over the world find this to be a painstaking and time-consuming process as there’s a lot of manual work involved, and so money is lost. From collecting bills, to classifying them into categories to getting approvals and reimbursement, it’s a lot of work. The duo even took cue from their own experience of letting some money go because claiming it was tedious work, and decided to start something of their own to solve the problem. “The biggest challenge while starting up is to find like-minded people who believe in the vision, share it and make it their own. Being a non-technical founder, one of the biggest challenges was to find a strong technical co-founder who believed in my idea and made it his own. Having worked together at Qubole, Siva and I understood each other, and there was a lot of mutual respect and complementary skill set,” says Yashwanth.

They built Fyle, one of the world’s fastest-growing providers of expense management solutions and services. With multi-currency and multi-organisation features, Fyle helps organisations of all sizes automate and optimise their expense management processes.

This experience is built inside Gmail and Outlook, transforming what was once a boring experience into an easy-to-use one. The startup’s one-click expense report signals the end of expense forms and templates, making it easy for individuals, businesses and non-profits to keep track of their expenses.

The founders want their firm to be a global leader in expense management. “Like people no longer say, ‘Search something on Google’; they just say ‘Google It’. Our goal is to make the world spend and just ‘Fyle’ it,” says Yashwanth. 

How Fyle leveraged Intuit QuickBooks to tap the global market

Fyle is currently a part of Intuit Circles, helping them get one step closer to their goal. One of the first products they integrated was QuickBooks Online where they leverage the single-click integration so that anyone who uses Fyle will automatically be able to connect to their QuickBooks Online account. In a span of one year, they have been able to gain around 180 customers globally and expand their footprint to the US, Netherlands and Singapore.

In addition to being a startup with multiple stakeholders, Fyle is an expense management software. That makes financial management more than just an occupational requirement for them. Through a professional networking event, they heard about Intuit Circles and became a part of it to get one step closer to their goal. Intuit Circles is helping them amplify their business growth efforts by providing them with access to a bigger network of relevant businesses. The program, through its Accountant Connect offering, has also connected Fyle with an accountant who has the expertise to consult and work with startups. Along with this, the program is providing them with potential partnership avenues.

Fyle has opted for integration with Intuit’s QuickBooks Online and Accountant Connect. “Being listed on the QuickBooks App store gives us higher visibility and a steady stream of potential customers. If a business already uses QuickBooks Online, it makes the accounting and implementation process a lot more seamless. We have seen a better onboarding rate for QuickBooks Online users,” says Yashwanth.

Intuit Circles – a powerful app ecosystem

Leveraging its experience of powering prosperity for startups and small businesses around the world for more than 35 years, through the Intuit Circles programme, Intuit is helping startups like Fyle in their journey towards bigger things. Intuit Circles is a powerful ecosystem of partners to guide startups in every step of their entrepreneurial journey, and facilitate their growth and prosperity, and allowing them to develop solutions for Intuit customers by integrating their technology with QuickBooks Online.

Helping startups be financially confident and develop solutions

Intuit Circles aims to create an ecosystem that is a trusted friend to startups.  The program offerings are two-fold; first is to help startups be financially successful through financial management training, nine months free subscription to QuickBooks Online – the world’s No.1 financial management software and Accountant Connect. Second, through Intuit Circles, startups can partner with Intuit to collaboratively develop solutions for Intuit’s customers by integrating their product on the QuickBooks Online platform. With over 3.9 million customers globally, this is one of the largest small business app ecosystem platforms. Today, there are more than 6,521 active apps on the QuickBooks Online platform and 634 apps are published in the QuickBooks Online Apps store.

Intuit Circles has introduced the first of its kind Accountant Connect offering in India.  Accountant Connect offers startups the opportunity to connect with expert accountants who have worked with a large number of startups in India. These accountants act as your personal trusted financial advisor. If a startup is looking for an accountant, Intuit will connect them with one of the many thousands of accountants using QuickBooks Online in India. The startup will then have the choice to procure the services of one of these accountants. The accountants will work with these startups, enabling them to be on top of their business. So, while startups manage finances including expenses, raising invoices, etc., the accountant can consult the startups on making smart money decisions.

What’s more? The participants also get an opportunity to network and be mentored by Intuit and industry leaders.

“Every startup should opt-in to benefit from the networking opportunities and access to relevant resources offered by Intuit Circles. It could be an invaluable addition to their business growth,” says Sivaramakrishnan Narayanan, Co-founder and CTO, Fyle.

Watch how Intuit Circles’ QuickBooks Online helped Fyle improve their customer engagement.

Like Fyle, you too can scale your business quickly with the help of Intuit Circles. If you are a startup looking to get financially successful or with a product solution that can integrate with QuickBooks Online, click here to apply for the programme.